Wardens take to skies to hunt for marijuana farms

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources pilot Luke Wuest flies over the 4,515-acre Richard Bong State Recreation Area in Kansasville on Friday, keeping an eye out for marijuana plants. Credit: Mark Hoffman

It all seemed bucolic and springlike Friday morning in the skies above southeastern Wisconsin.

That's not what Wuest and state Department of Natural Resources Warden Matt Groppi were looking at, though. They peered at the great expanse from the cockpit of the Cessna 175 that Wuest was flying and wondered where marijuana growers might decide to set up shop.

"When you get close to the fall, it's fairly easy to find because marijuana has a longer growing season and it'll stay green longer than other plants. It'll really pop out against the other plants and trees," said Wuest, a DNR pilot for five years. "But we want to find them before then."

Like any commodity, the profit margin spurs people to grow marijuana wherever they will get away with it. But while illegal marijuana plants have been discovered routinely on public and private land throughout Wisconsin each year, authorities are worried about the growth of some operations.

Last year, large marijuana "farms" were discovered on public land in the Navarino Wildlife Area in Shawano County and in the Tiffany Wildlife Area in Buffalo County, each with thousands of plants valued at millions of dollars.

With so much at stake, officials are worried that a hiker or bird watcher could stumble upon a marijuana growing operation in a remote area of Wisconsin. Violence has erupted in other states where armed guards often safeguard the crop.

"Each year they seem to be getting bigger, and we're getting more of the illegal marijuana (operations). What worries us is that as they grow and get more sophisticated, they're worth more," said Bill Engfer, homeland security coordinator for the DNR.

"People are living on the site, they become more protective. From a public safety standpoint, we're concerned, but there's also damage to habitat, they leave chemicals behind on property and they cut down native plants," Engfer said.

DNR pilots such as Wuest routinely look for illegal marijuana operations while performing other tasks from the sky, such as spotting wildfires, monitoring conservation violations and spraying for gypsy moths. This year the DNR is stepping up training for pilots to help them identify areas that could be used for marijuana operations. The agency also put together a training video.

The flights are part of an effort by the DNR and the state Department of Justice called CEASE, Cannabis Eradication and Suppression Effort. Posters illustrated with photos of marijuana plants and scenes of illegal farms are being put up at parks and forests throughout the state so hikers, anglers and anyone else who heads out into the woods will know what's supposed to be out there and what isn't. The agencies are advising anyone who comes across something that looks fishy to leave and note the location or GPS coordinates before notifying law enforcement.

The path leading to the pipes and bongs of marijuana users always starts with a plant growing in dirt. Authorities often find areas on public land with 10 to 15 marijuana plants. But at the much larger operations, there are usually huts, tents and other signs of human habitation because of the irrigation and chemicals required to improve yields, Groppi said.

On Friday morning Wuest and Groppi focused their energy on the Bong Recreation Area in Kenosha County. While many people passing highway signs for the area probably think of another meaning for the word, it's actually named after Wisconsin Medal of Honor recipient Richard Bong, an ace pilot during World War II.

As Wuest banked the plane, he and Groppi looked for tents, dense canopies that could be used for camouflage, tools, plastic containers of chemicals and other signs of possible illegal growing operations. They found none on Friday. But they and other DNR employees will continue to search throughout the growing season.

"When I got hired, I never expected I would be looking for marijuana," said Groppi, who is finishing up his warden training in the next few weeks. "It's just one of those aspects of the job - it's always changing and we have to adapt."

About Meg Jones

Meg Jones is a general assignment reporter who specializes in military and veterans issues. Meg was part of a team that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2003, and is the author of “World War II Milwaukee.”